Marijuana Is A ‘Gateway Drug,’ GOP Congressional Majority Leader Says As Trump Moves To Ease Federal Restrictions

This piece was written by Marijuana Moment using exclusive interviews provided by The LCB from Washington.

By Tom Angell

One of the top Republicans in Congress says he is concerned that marijuana causes people to use other, more dangerous substances as the Trump administration is moving forward with a proposal to federally reschedule cannabis.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) told Marijuana Moment last week that he thinks “marijuana is a gateway drug, and it causes other problems down the road” for people who use it.

Research has routinely debunked the so-called “gateway drug theory” that cannabis causes people to go on to other substances like cocaine and heroin.

One study published last year, for example, noted that cannabis “is often labeled a ‘gateway drug,’” but found that “strong causal evidence for progression to other substances is limited.”

Use of marijuana “typically follows alcohol and tobacco, and rarely leads to further drug use,” the study found. “These findings challenge the gateway hypothesis.”

In any case, Scalise was responding to a question about recently released FBI data showing that his home state of Louisiana had among the highest number of marijuana arrests in the U.S. in 2025.

The majority leader largely sidestepped the issue, however, saying that marijuana policy is largely carried out at the state level and not in Congress, where he serves.

“Ultimately, states are the ones who really regulate this. Each state has their own laws,” he said. “You’ve seen it being fought out in a number of states on even medicinal, and there have been constitutional initiatives at state levels.”

“You’ve seen the states primarily fighting this out,” Scalise said.

In the recent FBI data, Louisiana had the highest percent of total drug arrests accounted for by cannabis possession, at 62 percent.

The state’s governor recently signed legislation that threatens to send people to jail for up to one year if they smoke marijuana within 2,000 feet of a school property—including a college campus.

Scalise’s comments about marijuana being a “gateway drug” highlight an ongoing divide within the Republican party as the Trump administration is taking steps to reschedule cannabis,

Attorney General Todd Blanche in April issued an order that immediately reclassified state-licensed medical cannabis, as well as marijuana products approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) from Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) to Schedule III.

Under a separate order he signed, a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) hearing was held to consider more comprehensively moving marijuana to Schedule III.

In 2024, Scalise criticized the Biden administration’s initial move to reschedule marijuana, saying the government should be focused on “reducing the number of people that use drugs and not increasing that number.”

“We shouldn’t be making matters worse,” he said at the time.

Scalise has voted against bills to federally legalize marijuana and to increase cannabis businesses’ access to banking services.

He’s also opposed amendments to provide protections for any kind of state cannabis programs, let VA doctors issue medical cannabis recommendations, revise cannabis-related security clearance policy for federal workers and eliminate research barriers on Schedule I drugs.

The LCB contributed reporting from Washington, D.C.